Monday, October 24, 2011

Ever since I've heard about your activities with the youth movements, and the protests currently happening in Jordan, and what is the contents of your speeches and articles being published here and there, I wanted to ask you something.
What is the purpose of your involvement?

I'll say what i think, and the rest is left to you and the public opinion. I'm really doubting your intentions, and I say you have a personal agenda for your own personal benefits behind everything you do.

lets but it this way, to explain my personal opinion, Jordan is a country of two major parties, Jordanians from Jordanian roots, and Jordanians from Palestinian roots, don't deny it because you don't want to be a racist or a discriminant, I'm not either, but it's the fact on the ground, and ever since the "Black September" events, those two parties are "mainly" living in state of "cold war", both hate and revenge was and is building in the community, if you haven't noticed the staged after math of #March24 events was built upon this simple but dangerous idea. The only thing, in my personal opinion, beside reason which exists in some minority heads of educated and open-minded Jordanians, the love and respect to the king from the public is the major community holding bandage, when you start targeting this symbol, and digging under his feet, the country will simply crumble into a very long civil war, and would leave it to be taken by whoever more powerful or in my opinion plotting its downfall from behind the scene.
I believe in the king, and I know he'll clean up the government from any corruption, as well as i know how long and painful this process will be.
And I'm a proud Jordanian, who wants this country to evolve and reach its full potential, but with destructive direction to these protests like what you are doing right now, we're not going anywhere but to our doom.
hopefully, you'll change your attitude and what you're doing right now, or someone shell find a way to stop you, like the late King Hussian did.

Tuesday, October 18, 2011

After couple of months from appointing Al-Bakhit as a prime minster, yesterday he was fired to be replaced with the high rated judge Awn Al-Khasawneh, directly after a big clashing events resulted from the complete Bakhit's wrong ways of interacting with national wide range of protest. I'm not sure what was HM king Abudallah thinking when he appointed Al-Bakit back then, but maybe, with all Bakhit's military background, I can speculate that he wanted to kill the uprising by force means. Then when he saw the bad results of this cabinet on the ground, he thought of getting some fresh, more reasoning and logical blood into the picture, he understood that such uprising can't be met with force anymore, it has to be dealt with with reason, logic and the role of law. which I'm pretty sure the new prime minister will apply in the next few days.

on the other hand, the new face concept, will provide an observing, speculating, and waiting window of time for the ministry cabinet, this window of time should give enough space for this cabinet to produce some good results of reforming and system cleaning, which Al-Bakhit's cabinet didn't have, given his bad history from the previous time of being in the prime minter position.

I think, this change of trend in the King's political view, of the interior affairs has something to do with HRH Prince Al-Hassan. since HRH's vision was clear, the constructive conversation between the parties, and providing protection for the free of speech rights. and thats what this new PM started to do in past few hours since he appointed in his new position.

I am optimistic about this change, and I hope this new face would provide what the country needs for the current stage.

Although Microsoft announced its intentions to buy Skype in May, the software giant had to clear international hurdles before it could complete its acquisition of Skype, which is based in Luxembourg.

"This is an important milestone, as we've now received clearance from both the United States and the European Union," Microsoft's Brad Smith, general counsel and executive vice president, said in a statement. "We look forward to completing soon the final steps needed to close the acquisition."

While the European Commission's approval is an important step in the process, it isn't the only checkpoint Microsoft needs to cross. Competition reviews are still ongoing in Russia, Ukraine, Serbia, and Taiwan, according to theFinancial Times.

Analysts and consumers both have been waiting for Microsoft to announce Skype products baked into its desktop computers and Windows phones, where they're a natural fit and could give Microsoft another much-needed point of differentiation, especially in the crowded and competitive mobile phone space.

Skype had more than 170 million average monthly connected users from April to June 2011. Skype was founded in 2003.

Wednesday, October 5, 2011

In its first product announcement since Steve Jobs resigned as chief executive, Apple unveiled a smartphone that failed to deliver what many fans of the company had hoped for — a redesigned iPhone.

Instead, the company raised the curtain on an upgraded version of its existing handset.Called the iPhone 4s, the new smartphone offers faster performance with a slick voice recognition program. Butit disappointedsome analysts and customers who have come to expect a steady stream of breakthroughs from the tech giant.

iPhone 4

“Everyone was underwhelmed by Apple today. Only the most loyal are standing by this one,” said Rob Enderle, principal analyst for the Enderle Group, noting that the company failed to manage people’s expectations. “With everyone and their brother bringing 4G phones, you now have the weakest iPhone ever up against a strong market.”

Facing sky-high expectations, Apple scaled down what has been one of its signature events. It moved the announcement into a smaller venue and did not stream video of the event over the Web.

It also limited those who could attend. Consumer Reports, which was critical of Apple’s last smartphone, said it was not allowed to go. Tech blog Gizmodo, which posted pictures of a stolen iPhone 4 before its release, provided updates from afar.

For years, Apple has sat at the top of the consumer electronics world, remaking itself from nearly bankrupt to the most valuable company in the world in a little more than a decade. And the release of its latest smartphone is coming at a critical point in the company’s trajectory.

Besides Jobs’ resignation in August, Apple is trying to fight off rivals who are muscling into its territory — and some are gaining real traction.

The challenges are reminiscent of the late 1980s and 1990s when Jobs, who had invented the personal computer, watched Microsoft and a host of hardware markers come to dominate that market.

iPhone 4s

Today, Google has replaced Microsoft as Apple’s fiercest rival. Its Android operating system increasingly powers smartphones and tablets made by an array of hardware devices. And Apple may eventually struggle to keep up the pace of so many innovators who are competing both on features and price, some analysts say.

Smartphones running Google’s software now comprise 43 percent of the market compared to 28 percent for Apple, according to Nielsen. Gartner Research projects Apple’s iPad will account for 73 percent of worldwide tablet sales this year, down from 83 percent in 2010.

Some analysts noted that the new iPhone lacks features that are already in other smartphones, such as the ability to operate over 4G wireless networks, the latest and fastest available. Apple’snew chief executive, Tim Cook, hosted the event, but he passed many of the speaking opportunities on to other top executives.

Pre-orders for the phone will start Friday, and handsets will be shipped Oct. 14.

Consumers took to Twitter to vent their disappointment, with one writing: “I’m going as the iPhone 4S for Halloween by wearing last year’s costume and disappointing everyone.”

With a design identical to the iPhone 4, Apple may also face questions over whether its new handset has the same antenna problems that forced the company to give out free cases to customers last year, analysts said.

Apple did not respond to requests for comment on why it moved the event or declined access to Gizmodo and Consumer Reports. It did not respond to a question on the iPhone 4s antenna.

Investors showed their disappointment by selling off their stock moments after an Apple executive uttered the words “iPhone 4S.” Shares fell as much as 5 percent before ending down about 0.6 percent.

The new iPhone 4S will start at $199. Apple also lowered the price of the iPhone 4 to $99, while the iPhone 3Gs is now free with a phone contract.

Tuesday, October 4, 2011

On Friday evening I was in Los Angeles visitingmy sister. We were at a restaurant, chatting away about life, when my sister ebulliently announced that she wanted to “Tweet about our meal.” She pulled out her iPhone, opened up the Twitter application and then proceeded to click around aimlessly trying to figure out how to send a new Twitter message. I quickly turned into a scientist in a lab and sat inquisitively watching her navigate Twitter. I didn’t offer any guidance, although she clearly needed it.

I should note that my sister is not technologically inept. She has the typical digital toolbox of modern gadgets at her disposal: iPhone, iPad, laptop, digital camera. Like everyone else in my family, she is also a religious Facebook user, uploading pictures of her kids and updating her status regularly, often from her mobile phone.

And, like my family, she never really took to Twitter. When I asked her last year why she rarely Tweeted, she said, “Twitter is too confusing.”

That complaint, which I have often heard from others who work outside the technology industry, never made sense to me. That is, until now.

At dinner, I eventually explained that the button in the top right corner of the Twitter application is used to create a new message. Pressing it, mysister began writing, “I am loving my date night with my little brother…” and then she stopped.

“How do I include your name in the Tweet?” she asked me. “Is it the @ symbol, then a space, then your name?” I explained that the @ symbol couldn’t have a space, and that she had to write my Twitter username, not just my given name.

On Facebook, if someone wants to tag another person — say their brother at dinner — they just start writing the name and Facebook figures out the rest using an algorithm that understands names. In comparison, on Twitter, people have to understand @ symbols, hashtags and other strange intricacies of the service. These features make Twitter a great tool for many, but not for all.

Seeing my sister navigate Twitter, I realized why it was so confusing to so many. For someone like me with a programming background who grew up using computers, adding an @ symbol to someone’s name is easy. For someone who did not, like 90 percent of America, it just doesn’t make sense. Our brain is not forced to do this in real life, why should it in digital life?

The day before my Twitter experiment with my sister, I was in San Francisco covering Facebook’s F8 conference. During the event, Mark Zuckerberg, Facebook’s founder and chief executive, told attendees that on a given day the week before, 500 million people had logged into Facebook on a single day. That’s a staggering number by any comparison, but compared with Twitter, it’s like Little League baseball next to the World Series.

Earlier thismonth Dick Costolo, Twitter’s chief executive, said the company now had 100 million active users, 50 million of which actually Tweet; the rest sit and watch.

For me,Twitter is the most importantservice on the Web; I use it religiously and obsessively. But in comparison to Facebook’s huge number of active users, I’m part of the minority.

Of course a start-up doesn’t fall on the sword of a single @ symbol. There are other reasons people prefer Facebook over Twitter, including its integration with hundreds of thousands of Web sites, its photo features, news feed, connections with others, and more.

But if Twitter hopes to grow at the pace of Facebook, it will have to figure out how to stop thinking in @ symbols, and start thinking like my sister.